


Game On!

by Josh89



Series: A Detective's Story [4]
Category: Criminal Case (Video Game)
Genre: Cannibalism, Canon Compliant, Case Fic, Don't copy to another site, During Canon, Gags, Gen, Implied/Referenced Torture, Murder Mystery, Mystery, Non-Chronological, Psychopath
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-18
Updated: 2019-03-18
Packaged: 2019-11-23 15:13:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18153521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Josh89/pseuds/Josh89
Summary: Our heroic detective and his partner David Jones receive a mysterious package at the Precinct one day, which throws them headfirst into a desperate game to track down a murderous psychopath.





	Game On!

**Author's Note:**

> Canonically, this takes place approximately 15 weeks after the events of Interrogation, 36 weeks before the events of Leaving, and over a year before the events of Confronting A Killer.

“Sergeant Joshua, we’ve just received a package addressed to you”.  
I gratefully accepted the sealed box from Chief King, noting how carefully taped it was. Beside me, Jones was practically jumping for joy, an excited smile on his face. “Did you hear that, Joshua?! People are sending us thank you gifts! I think I'm going to enjoy that! Open it! Open it!”  
Setting the parcel down on my desk, I pulled my swiss army knife out of my pocket and made a quick incision across the taped top, before pulling the flaps open. The moment I looked inside, I felt the colour leave my face and my hand rose to cover my mouth as I recoiled in horror when I saw what lay nestled on a bed of tissues inside the box. “What the hell kind of sick joke is this?”  
My partner stepped forward, looking into the box curiously, before doing the same. “Oh dear God! How can something like this even be considered a gift? It’s a finger! God, I can’t even look at this right now…”  
I nodded in agreement, knowing exactly who would be better suited to examining the finger. “Let’s get the finger to Nathan, and fast. He should be able to tell us something about it”.  
As I moved to close the box once more, something nestled into the box beside the finger caught my eye. I averted my eyes as I reached into the cardboard container and plucked out a piece of plain white notepaper, unfolding it and staring at the contents grimly. “Well? What does it say?” Jones demanded.  
I swallowed. “That's just a preview. You'll find some more pieces from my victim at the homeless camp, next to the bridge."  
“More pieces? Oh, god. Please don’t tell me that means more fingers” Jones muttered.  
Chief King looked at the two of us grimly, and I knew exactly what he was going to say. “There is no victim without a killer. Sergeant Joshua, you’ve got a new case!”  
Nodding, I grabbed my jacket from my chair, quickly shrugging it on, and making sure my handgun and my badge were both secure on my belt. “Ready when you are, partner”.  
Jones grinned, but I could tell it was slightly more forced than usual. But secretly, I was thrilled to have another case, even though it would probably turn out to be the grossest case we’d worked yet. There was just something about the thrill of the chase that I couldn’t get enough of. “Joshua, let’s go check out that homeless camp straight away!”  
I nodded, and after getting one of the uniformed officers to take the finger down to Nathan for analysis, we left for Cooperville.  
My partner was silent pretty much the entire drive there, staring almost blankly out of the car’s passenger-side window at the scenery as it sped past. Eventually, I sighed, reaching over and giving him a gentle nudge, causing him to glance up at me in surprise. “You alright?”  
He sighed. “Not really. I mean… I know this is our job, but the things some people are capable of never cease to horrify me. And this is a whole new level of horrifying, Joshua” he replied softly.  
I gave a small smile, and my eyes met his encouragingly. “Jones. We’ve solved nineteen cases together so far. We’re going to solve this one too, there’s no doubt about it”.  
The rest of the drive was passed in silence, though an easier and more companionable silence than before, and it wasn’t long before I was pulling the car to a stop outside of Cooperville, which was where Jones and I both knew the homeless camp in question was. “The killer’s note said that there were more pieces of his or her victim ‘at the homeless camp, near the bridge’. Like you said the last time we were here for a case, there’s only one bridge in the area, and that’s…”  
I looked up, pointing to a derelict-looking bridge maybe ten minutes away from us. “There. I’ll bet that that’s where our next clues are”.  
It didn’t take us all that long to reach the shack nearest to the bridge, and Jones nodded to me. “You do your thing, Josh. I’ll keep watch just in case our killer decides to come back”.  
“You got it, partner”.  
Satisfied with my response, Jones turned his back to me, his eyes scanning our surroundings carefully, while I pulled on a pair of rubber gloves (so I wouldn’t taint any evidence we collected with my own fingerprints) and stepped towards the shack, my eyes flickering around, not missing a single detail. “Hmm. Rusted out old car next to a rundown shack. Typical of this place, really. Not sure why on earth I expected anything different”.  
My foot kicked against something, and I bent down to examine it. “There’s a pile of dirt here. It looks freshly-disturbed, too. Something’s been buried here recently”.  
Standing to my full height (6 foot even, two inches taller than Jones’s 5’10”), I was quickly able to spot the second severed finger on the roof of the shack. This time, it was pointed towards a worn leather box. “Jones, I think I’ve found something”.  
My partner whirled around, and was standing next to me just a couple of seconds later. I motioned to the second finger on the shack’s roof. “Well, I guess our killer was telling the truth”.  
I glanced at Jones, who looked like he was going to throw up again. “Oh God, a second finger! I guess it goes with the first finger that psycho sent to us… Do you think it’s pointing at that box over there, or am I going nuts?”  
“It’s definitely pointing at the box” I muttered in agreement, before grabbing the box’s handle and pulling, only to scowl at the resistance I was met with.  
“It’s locked. Of course, why am I even surprised? You know how I hate it when things are locked, right, Josh? We must open it!”  
I sighed. “You’re right; we’ll have to open it if we want to stand even the most remote chance of solving this case. Alright, here goes. For science!”  
I examined the locked box intently. The scratches on the leather look like they make up the numbers of the code, let’s try… 656 828. I quickly swivelled the locks so that they matched the numbers, there was a small ‘click’, and the box unlocked, allowing Jones and I to open it. Jones was at my side within seconds. “Good job, partner. I knew I could count on you to open the box. I’m sure it wasn’t left here by accident. What’s inside it?”  
I held up the contents of the box for my partner to see. “Another note? And there’s a key inside this time, what do you think it could be for?”  
I shrugged. “No idea. The note seems to be blank though… Hang on, hand me the dusting kit for a second, I might have an idea”.  
My partner did as I asked, and I brushed the powder over the paper in front of us, quickly revealing a taunting message. “Well? What does it say?”  
“It says “Well done, Sergeant Joshua, you found my note! Another piece of the puzzle is waiting for you at 278 Kennedy Road”. I’m guessing that the key we found in the box unlocks a door at that address. Also, there’s the matter of this…”  
I knelt down next to the soil I had spotted earlier. “Freshly disturbed soil. Someone’s been digging here, and quite recently at that. Good thing I always carry a small shovel with me just in case of things like this”.  
Quickly removing the tool in question from my belt, I smiled up at my partner, before starting to dig.  
~Five hours later, after much hard work and clue-gathering~  
Jones grinned triumphantly. “Joshua, you’ve found every piece of this twisted puzzle! There's not a minute to lose: let's go put that sadist in jail where he belongs!”  
I double-checked my gun again. “Right behind you!”  
~278 Kennedy Road, half an hour later~  
“Tyler wasn’t at his loft, he has to be here! I can’t see a thing though! Josh, can you turn the lights on please?”  
“Gladly”  
I reached over to the light switch I had noticed on our first visit to the basement, and flicked it down. As the lights flickered into life, it became obvious that Tyler was standing literally right in front of us. “Boo!”  
“Gah!”  
Jones jumped back in fright, startled by the blonde psychopath’s appearance. I merely leaned against the wall, raising an eyebrow. “Well, that was just childish”  
Jones shivered. “He scared me half to death! Quick, Joshua, put the cuffs on him!”  
“It would be my pleasure”.  
I pulled the handcuffs from my belt, swiftly moving behind Tyler. “Mr. McAlister, you’re under arrest for the torture and murder of Steve Woods!” I snapped, quickly clicking the cuffs onto his wrists.  
Tyler laughed. “You took your time to get me, Sergeant Joshua! But I have to admit, both the murder and our little game were as thrilling as I expected! It was brilliant to choose a tramp that nobody would look for, wasn’t it? I just had to make him believe that I was going to help him get back on his feet. It was so easy…”  
Jones paled. “You’re… You’re nuts! But still, I have to know. What did you do with the liver?”  
“Haha, I’m surprised you didn’t guess! There is nothing like human liver to enhance the taste of caviar…”  
“You ate it. You cut out his liver and ate it” I muttered grimly.  
Taking a deep breath, I shoved the blonde forward towards the door, which Jones was already holding open. “Let’s go, Jones. I think the sooner we get this psychopath to court, the better”.  
“Psychopath! Ha! I’m a criminal genius!” Tyler yelled.  
I rolled my eyes. “You’re a cannibal and a psychopath. And you’re not even that much of a genius, Tyler. I knew you were the killer from the very first time we interrogated you”.  
“You did not! I had you fooled, Sergeant!”  
Sighing, I turned to Jones. “Can we gag him or something? Otherwise this is going to be a hell of a long trip”.  
My partner grinned in response, flicking open the glove compartment and reaching in. “I think I might actually have just the thing”.


End file.
